Can motion sensors be used to make a character move in Blender?
Yes, it is possible to even move a human skeleton in real time in Blender but you need a few things to implement it. 

A few external software, an XBox One Kinect and an adapter for it, in order to be able to plug it into a computer USB. The computer has to have a USB3 connection and for this a USB controller by Intel or Renesas, otherwise it will not work. 
I would not recommend the XBox 360 Kinect because that has a lot less resolution and less features. 

Instead of writing a mass of info here I rather give you a YouTube link where all this is explained in detail, including how to make all this work in Blender in real time. You will find all the links to the hardware and software that you need in the description of the video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UPZtS5LVvw

What you learn there you can apply it to whatever you want to achieve.